MINERAL POINT, Wis. — Cummins Emission Solutions (CES) reported its North American exhaust aftertreatment manufacturing facility has begun producing the diesel particulate filters that will play a key role in enabling engine manufacturers to meet the 2007 US EPA emissions standards.

The Mineral Point facility, which employs nearly 350 people, has been prepared by the company to meet the new EPA standards.

Those standards will reduce particulate matter emissions in on-highway diesel-powered vehicles by 90%, while also resulting in a significant reduction in nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions.

“Cummins Emission Solutions has the right technology to allow our engine and vehicle customers to meet these challenges reliably and cost effectively, and that technology is ready for the market,” said Mike Cross, Cummins vice-president and general manager of Cummins Emission Solutions. “Catalytic exhaust systems may be considered something of a new technology for medium- and heavy-duty diesel engines, but they certainly are not new for this facility or Cummins Emission Solutions.”

Cummins Emission Solutions was formed in 2002 in response to a recognized need to provide advanced aftertreatment technologies to meet emissions regulations around the world. CES provides OEM and retrofit aftertreatment systems for Cummins and a number of other engine manufacturers.

The business reported sales in excess of $100 million in 2005 and is projecting more than $500 million in annual revenue by 2009, as the worldwide demand for advanced aftertreatment grows.

The Mineral Point manufacturing plant began in 1947 as Nelson Muffler, a four-employee operation that worked out of a small space in a former county garage. Today’s facility – now approximately 72,000 square feet – was constructed in 1974 and expanded in 2006 to enable the production of diesel particulate filter systems.

The plant has manufactured more than 1.5 million medium- and heavy-duty diesel oxidation catalysts and well over 10,000 medium- and heavy-duty diesel particulate filters in its history.